Jury decides Bury man’s haul of cannabis was for sale

A man caught with two bags of cannabis has been jailed for more than two years after a jury decided he intended to sell the drug.

Oliver Clements, 23, was arrested after fleeing to his home in Salter Close, Bury St Edmunds on July 15 last year.

He had pleaded not guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply and possession of criminal property which was £245 in cash but was found guilty on Tuesday at Ipswich Crown Court.

Judge John Devaux sentenced Clements to a total of 27 months imprisonment, which included activating in full a 12 month suspended sentence imposed at the same court in January last year.

The court heard that the breach of the suspended sentence order also related to a case in which Clements had been caught dealing in cannabis.

During his trial for the latest offences Lynne Shirley, prosecuting, told the jury that moments before Clements fled to his nearby home, a car in which he had been a passenger had been stopped by police with the intention of searching it for drugs.

A subsequent search of Clements’ home revealed two bags containing ‘skunk cannabis’ together with handwritten lists and text messages on a mobile phone, said Miss Shirley.

The jury heard allegations that those messages and lists were related to drug dealing by Clements.

Clements claimed that electronic scales found in his possession were used not for drug dealing but to ensure he was not being short-changed when he bought cannabis for his own use.

He said the cannabis found by police at his home had been entirely for his own use and he had intended to use the £245 cash to buy more of the drug. Clements said he had never planned to sell any of it.

Judge Devaux ordered the forfeiture of the cannabis and the £245.

Skunk is a potent form of cannabis which contains high levels of the active ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol.